Persons when traveling or staying outside their home place their personal belonging into whatever furniture happens to be available. For travelers, the accommodations may be a hotel, motel, a bed-and-breakfast, or the home or apartment of a friend or relative. Persons staying outside the home can include students residing in a dormitory or apartment, and person visiting relatives or friends. In the case of a hotel, motel and a bed-and-breakfast, the person can typically lock the room so that outsiders cannot gain access to the room, although cleaning, maintenance and security personnel may have keys to access the room. In the case of apartment rooms, dormitory rooms or within the homes or apartment of relatives or friends, the living area may be locked but may be shared with one or more other persons, or the living area may be unlocked, allowing free access thereto.
In many hotels, a guest may have a security box or vault within the room or the hotel itself, within which the guest can securely lock away valuables such as jewelry and electronic devices, cash, etc. For guests or traveler in hotels, apartments, dormitory rooms or the homes of friends and relatives, the guest, student or traveler may provide their own lockable luggage, security box, or baggage, within which cash, valuable or personal or business documents and articles can be secured, away from access to others.
Other times, the guest, traveler, or student simply wants to secure their personal items and valuables in a furniture drawer, away from the persons having legitimate access to the area, such as roommates, family members, etc., who may snoop around or may be curious about another person's belongings. The temporary lock for a furniture drawer in such a case needs not be unbreakable or unassailable, but should reveal signs of tampering or entry if unauthorized access is attempted. The temporary lock is used as a means to deter and discourage the unauthorized access to a curious snooper.
One location in which a person might store valuables, sensitive or confidential documents, etc. is in a drawer of furniture provided in the accommodations, such as a dresser, cabinet or desk. While office furniture is typically provided with built-in locks that prevent a drawer from being opened, most dresser drawers, and drawers in many cabinets and desks, are not made with integral locks. Thus, there is a need for a temporary lock to deter and discourage the unauthorized access to a curious snooper by requiring a definitely strong effort to open a drawer protected by such lock, and once opened the drawer cannot be returned to the locked condition by the intruder.